Sunday, November 24, 2013

FASHION EVENTS - TORONTO

By Lynda Castonguay

The ShOws:The Synergy of Steven Tai & Jeremy Laing

Steven Tai (Photo: Owen McLeod for Fashion Studio Magazine)

TORONTO - A gaggle of Toronto’s fashionable geese flocked to Andrew Richard Designs in the posh Adelaide West neighbourhood last month to have a gander at what two Canadian goslings dreamt up for spring/summer 2014. Vancouver born Steven Tai and Toronto based Jeremy Laing took part in something known as The ShOws, a two day event spotlighting home grown design talent, an event that in turn gives other budding talents in styling and beauty a great opportunity to showcase their know how. What we are left with, then, is a full Canadian menu from start to finish.

“Our aim is to put the spotlight on Canadian Designers, Hair and Makeup Artists and Models and build a property that benefits not only our designers, artists and retailers but also our supportive sponsors, by showcasing the very best of Canadian talent at home and abroad to our media, buyers and stylists”Paola Fullerton, Founder and Creative Director

Both designers looked to great life loves for inspiration - Steven Tai reminisced on cross stitching while Jeremy Laing fondly remembered Tiger Tail ice cream, sidewalk chalk, and notepads. What resulted were two nostalgia fueled collections.

Jeremy Laing (Photo: Owen McLeod for Fashion Studio Magazine)

Jeremy Laing (Photo: Owen McLeod for Fashion Studio Magazine)

Steven Tai

Much of the collection was directly influenced by The Eden Project, a greenhouse complex in Cornwall, United Kingdom, where plants from around the world are held in biomes simulating different natural plant environments. While the caps the models wore were a direct mimic of the biomes hexagonal and pentagonal surfaces, the rest of the collection was an abstract take on it. Beginning with a photograph of Eden, Steven collaborated with Lola Dupre, a collage artist, to manipulate the photo and turn it into what was now walking down the runway: embroidered and textured pieces painting a gradient picture of Eden in a palette rich in nature’s best.

The rest of the collection was still finely in tune with the element of Eden and nature. Full skirts and shorts, oversized tops and floor length coats in grass greens, pale sunset pinks and oranges on what I call, fashion braille - textured fabric that at the touch of the hand could tell a story.

Steven Tai Spring/Summer 2013

Photos: Owen McLeod for Fashion Studio Magazine

Photos: Owen McLeod for Fashion Studio Magazine

Photos: Owen McLeod for Fashion Studio Magazine

Photos: Owen McLeod for Fashion Studio Magazine

Photos: Owen McLeod for Fashion Studio Magazine

Jeremy Laing

When it came to Jeremy, he took a more literal approach to the things he was most nostalgic about.

Sidewalk chalk played out as boxy and oversized tech poplin tunics, shorts, and jackets in bubble gum pink, popsicle orange, and highlighter blue. Notepads played out as vertical striped tops and dresses draped in such a way to give the illusion of all directional stripes. There was impermeable rain gear - perhaps a fashionable note on how he misses jumping in puddles and playing in the rain?

His walk down memory lane also brought us some interesting design fabrics. There was what I termed “the orange swirl” - a peach and black fabric imitating Tiger Tail ice cream. Then, it was a groovy design created by New York artist Julia Dault that was, as described by him, squeegee’d onto the fabric.

Of the two, I enjoyed Steven Tai’s line the most. It was cohesive and soft, while Jeremy Laing’s felt confused. The transitioning between the severe blacks and greys, the jolts of colour, the body conscious, the draped, and the oversized and boxy was bumpy and a little misunderstood.

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